War And Madness
by The Passionate Admiral
Summary: A contemplation on what was going through everyone's minds during the brutal battle of AR-558.
1. Making A Stand

The Relationship Between War And Madness

Author: The Passionate Admiral

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. I just providing an insight on what the effects of war may have had on everyone present at AR-558.

The Stand of AR-558

They waited. Several of them had less than an hour left to live. But in actuality their lives meant little to them compared to their mission there. They had made it through many long weeks, and now the efforts of their work were going to meet their final test. Would all of them die with their efforts being in vain, or would enough of them survive to see their efforts proving to be something noble in the end?

No one knew the answer to this question. But they were sure on one thing: there was absolutely no way that they would all survive this. However, they were not going to stand down, no matter what the cost would be.

One of Vic Fontaine's songs emanated from the infirmary. Dr. Bashir had been a medical expert, and he believed that a song would ease the soldiers' fear of the upcoming battle. While they may not have shown it, the soldiers were grateful for the doctor's favor.

Suddenly they heard a single Houdini bomb detonate from the passageway. Somebody quickly turned off the music and returned to his post. Then another bomb detonated, followed immediately by three more. Finally every single one of the dozens of bombs they had placed in the passageway had ignited. Everyone had their phaser rifles at the ready. A few like Vargas began to think that perhaps the mines had killed all of the Jem'Hadar. However, the faint sound of shouting proved otherwise.

The shouting sound was becoming slightly louder every moment, and it was approaching the soldiers fast. Finally, the Jem'Hadar charged through the grounds of the relay station. There were dozens of them. The mines had killed several of them and fried the enzymes of their biology that allowed them to cloak themselves. They were bloodthirsty, and they were about to take their desire to kill out on the Starfleet soldiers.

The Jem'Hadar were getting closer within each passing second. Finally, when he could see the whites of their ketracel-white tubes, Captain Benjamin Sisko shouted "FIRE!"


	2. The Battle Of AR558

The battle was brief but vicious. Captain Sisko and his men had the advantage of the huge boulders to provide them with cover. Everyone had barely any time to aim at their targets. The Jem'Hadar were ambushing them so quickly that they were forced to resort to pointing and shooting.

Every time the Starfleet soldiers did have a chance to aim first, they always hit their targets. All of their weapons had been pre-set to kill. It was clear to them that the Jem'Hadar actually did feel pain. Every Jem'Hadar who was shot shouted in terrible agony and collapsed dead.

Finally the Jem'Hadar were close enough to where they could use their weapons. They fired their weapons at the Starfleet soldiers. The man posted next to Reese was shot twice in the face. He collapsed dead. Reese barely even have enough time to look at him to see if he was alive. He was too busy fending off more Jem'Hadar soldiers, and besides that, he knew that the only setting on a Jem'Hadar weapon was "kill."

Reese fired at another Jem'Hadar and shot him directly in the chest. The warrior shouted in pain and dropped like a rock to the ground.

Finally the Jem'Hadar were among their lines. Two of them jumped two more of them and forced them onto the ground. Reese turned around just in time to see another Jem'Hadar charging up on him. He fired once and the Jem'Hadar moaned as he fell to the ground.

The man next to Captain Sisko was shot in the chest and the head. The force of the energy from the weapon that hit him almost casued him to backflip as he died. Captain Sisko turned and retaliated by shooting the Jem'Hadar in the chest cavity.

As that Jem'Hadar collapsed, another one reached Captain Sisko. The two fought together in hand-to-hand combat. Right then at that moment, there was nothing but utter rage in Captain Sisko's mind. Every day of his life before this one, he had always kept his sense of humor no matter what he had been faced with. But on that planet, there was not even a remote sign of a grin in the Captain. The one thing he was focused on was also the one thing the Jem'Hadar were focused on: Killing the enemy.

Captain Sisko knocked the Jem'Hadar's weapon out of his hands and threw him onto the ground. He then shot him while he was down.

Dr. Bashir heard heavy footsteps and a voice nearing him. He turned around and saw another Jem'Hadar approaching him. The two of them fired once at each other. The Jem'Hadar was killed, and Dr. Bashir was still alive. However, the energy bolt had grazed his shoulder. He moaned and fell against a rock. But that did not stop him from fighting.

While he fought, Dr. Bashir remembered all the battles he had fought in the holosuites at DS9 alongside Chief O'Brien. They had always enjoyed fighting in World War I, the Crusades, and the Alamo, but never before had they fought in a battle as vicious as this one. In the holosuites, Dr. Bashir always had fun and excitement on his mind. But on AR-558, all he had was hatred for the Jem'Hadar. He had one objective in his mind: Kill the murderers.

Reese flipped one of the Jem'Hadar over his shoulder and onto the ground. Before the Jem'Hadar could rebound, Reese stabbed him in the the face and took his ketracel-white tube. He slid it in his pocket, making a note to add it to his necklace later. When Reese rose to his feet, another Jem'Hadar approached him, shouting with his weapon raised. Reese dodged the blow and grabbed the Jem'Hadar's weapon with his left hand.

In one split-second, Reese's eyes met that Jem'Hadar's. It had been well-established that the Jem'Hadar knew no fear and were the most bloodthirsty warriors in the entire galaxy. However, in the split-second that Reese and the Jem'Hadar looked in each other's eyes, they learned something about each other. The Jem'Hadar saw that Reese was just as psychotic as he was, and that under certain circumstances it was possible for Humans to become as savage as his people. When Reese looked into the Jem'Hadar's eyes, he saw at that moment that the Jem'Hadar were acquainted with fear. When Humans were forced into the same situation as Reese had been, they were as vicious as any uncivilized killer. Reese did see right then that the Jem'Hadar was just as terrified of him as Humans were of the Jem'Hadar. That look was present in all of the Jem'Hadar at that battle.

Reese stabbed the Jem'Hadar in the throat after the split-second. But he did not bother getting the tube from this one. He just ran, shouting like a madman towards another Jem'Hadar.

Kellin and Ezri were two of the few who still had sufficient cover to fire at the Jem'Hadar from a secure location. They fired side-by-side, watching each other's backs.

In the infirmary, Quark was gently patting Nog's face with a damp washcloth. He paused for a moment to listen to the battle going on outside the room. He heard shouting, weapons' fire, and the unmistakable sounds of people dying. It was only at that moment that Quark realized the true nature of war. The 34th Rule of Acquisition was "War is good for business." Quark concluded that the Grand Nagus who wrote those rules must have never participated in any war, or even a skirmish.

Quark thought of Nog, his beloved nephew. He thought of how he was going to have to explain to Rom how his son had to get his lower left leg amputated. He also thought of how he was going to tell Nog that he was right about how joining in on a war was a terrible thing for anyone to do. But at that moment, all he had on his mind was watching over his nephew until help arrived.

Outside the fighting continued. Vargas killed another Jem'Hadar with his rifle. But another one had approached him from behind and stabbed him in the upper section of his back with his knife. Vargas shrieked for a moment, and then he fell dead to the ground with the knife still in his back.

Dr. Bashir moved himself up and kept his mind focused on his targets. Captain Sisko continued to fight the Jem'Hadar in hand-to-hand combat.

One of the Jem'Hadar approached Ezri. She fought with him, struggling against him as hard as she could. Pretty soon, the Jem'Hadar threw her on the ground and pointed his rifle at her. But before he could fire, he was shot in the back by Kellin. Kellin ran over to Ezri, but just before he reached her, he in turn was shot in back and he collapsed onto the ground.

Ezri had hit her left cheek on a sharp rock. She was bleeding, but she paid no heed to that. She crawled over to Kellin, and as she shook him gently, she frantically asked "Kellin? Kellin?"

He was dead. Ezri had known him for only a few days, and yet he had just died saving her life. Ezri thought about what sorts of effects this battle would have on herself and everyone else there. She was just a counselor in training; she had not planned on helping people with the after-effects of war and battles. Starfleet was based upon peace and diplomacy. Yet it still fought in wars. The first duty of every counselor was to ensure people that they still had dignity and pride to increase their low self-esteem. She had proved promising in that responsibility before, but now she was uncertain of her competence in this matter.

In the infirmary, Quark had resumed patting Nog's face with the washcloth. He paused again. This time, he heard heavy footsteps approaching the entrance to the room. He slowly reached for the disruptor pistol Dr. Bashir had given him earlier to defend himself.

Quark whipped around with the disruptor in his right hand as a Jem'Hadar appeared in the doorway. He compressed his finger against the trigger as hard as he could and shot the Jem'Hadar just under the throat. The Jem'Hadar shouted as he fell backwards. He died groaning in misery as he collapsed against a pile of crates. Quark looked at the disruptor. Dr. Bashir had set it on kill before he had given it to Quark. Quark then realized that he was just as much a part of that war as the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and the Dominion were.

Back outside, Dr. Bashir was fighting from the ground. A Jem'Hadar was above him at that moment. He had his weapon raised, but was spotted by Captain Sisko just in time. Feeling nothing but complete hate, Sisko fired at the Jem'Hadar, killing him while simultaneously saving the doctor.

Captain Sisko was clubbed by another Jem'Hadar from behind. He dropped onto the ground and lay there. He barely had enough strength left to look over his shoulder. He saw the Jem'Hadar pointed his weapon directly at him. Captain Sisko then blacked out. The last thought he had before passing out was _At least I will die fighting the murderers_.

A short while later, Sisko heard a voice talking to him. He faintly opened his eyes and saw Reese standing over him. He asked "Are you alive? Captain? Are you with us?"

Reese helped Captain Sisko to his feet as he answered "I think so."

Once he was on his feet, he looked around the cavern. There were dead bodies everywhere. There were far more on the ground than sitting or standing. But all the ones sitting or standing were Starfleet soldiers. Upon seeing the sight, Sisko thought aloud "We held."

"Those were our orders, sir." said Reese.

Starfleet had officially won over the relay station, but it had come at great cost. Reese was one of the few survivors left from the original regiment. But he and the others were finally finished there. Sisko had the USS _Defiant _contacted and reported their situation. The battle was over, but the terror would still be there for a long time.


End file.
